


a single woman can make it on her own (but assistance is appreciated)

by WattStalf



Series: cos your love's got the best of me (baby, you're making a fool of me) [46]
Category: Baccano!
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-05-21 00:36:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19362805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WattStalf/pseuds/WattStalf
Summary: Ladd is probably going to be released soon.





	a single woman can make it on her own (but assistance is appreciated)

**Author's Note:**

> I'm probably taking way too many liberties with writing how she was kidnapped but idk I don't care

Lua returns to Chicago, because she doesn’t have anywhere else to go. Ladd was so vague and impulsive with his plans for New York that she isn’t sure how long they were meant to stay, if he planned for that at all, but she still has their apartment in Chicago to return home to.

There’s some money, some leftover from Ladd and what she was paid of, at least enough to keep her afloat for a little while, but with Ladd’s family connections severed and Lua barely knowing them to begin with, their main source of money is gone. With the depression as it is, she isn’t sure if she’ll be able to find work, but she never once considers returning to her  _ own _ family.

She will just have to muddle through somehow, making sure that she can make the rent and feed herself, and keep herself alive until she can see Ladd again someday. Until then, she will survive, because she and Ladd have made a promise to each other, and to her, that promise is even more binding than their engagement.

Like Ladd, she’s a Chicago native, and most of her memories with him are in this city. Their most recent trip is one of the few that they’ve taken together; normally, he has to travel for work and leaves her home, to keep her safe. They’ve only been on a train together one other time, and she blushes as she remembers it, though there’s no one else to notice the slight tinge to her cheeks.

Now, the idea of falling from a train does not hold nearly as much appeal as it did then- but the way he saved her  _ was _ wonderful- but, at the time, he had teased her once by asking if she’d like it if he dangled her off the top. And then, that teasing had excited her all too much, and the rest of their trip had passed by rather quickly.

For the most part, she and Ladd spent their time together in the city, and, more often than not, alone in their apartment, but he loved to take her out and show her off whenever the opportunity arose. He’s an outgoing man, but the two of them were typically a solitary couple.

It’s strange, returning to their apartment on her own, and knowing that Ladd won’t be coming through the door later in the day. The longest he’s ever been gone at one time is a week, just once, and even that was difficult for her to wait out. She has no idea how long she has to wait now, and had no chance to prepare herself for this time apart. All she can do is believe that one day her patience will pay off and that he will come through that door again.

Or, more than likely, she’ll go to meet him somewhere.

In the meantime, she keeps herself company with their memories, and each room in their apartment holds plenty of those. Things were cleaned up well before they went out of town, though she almost wishes that they had left a little bit of a mess, had left it looking a little bit lived in. Well, either way, everything is as they left it, with their bed made and their clothes in the closet-  _ his _ clothes, hanging up where they won’t be touched for years, more than likely, and Lua closes the door, an unfamiliar pain in her chest.

She’s lived without Ladd for years, and never noticed the absence then, but now that she’s known him and now that he’s gone, it’s hard to remember those years before. Perhaps because they were so uneventful, but with Ladd, even when they just stayed in, things were always eventful, and now everything seems even  _ more _ empty than it ever did before. And now she wants to live just as much as she wants to die, and that’s a strange feeling for her.

It’s hard, even, to sleep in the same bed they used to share, for the first few weeks of their time apart. She adjusts eventually, but there are still times, months later, where she wakes up and wonders why she doesn’t feel the weight of his arm over her, only to remember why, once she’s more coherent. On the surface, she lives a fairly normal life, if not a little solitary.

During the day, she passes time by looking for work and reading and solving puzzles and, once it hurts a little less to look through his clothes, she teaches herself a little bit of sewing and fixes some of the tears in Ladd’s clothes, and hopes that he doesn’t gain or lose too much weight in prison, so that it will all still fit and her efforts weren’t for nothing. (But, really, she’ll be happy to see him regardless of if his clothes fit or not, so it really doesn’t matter.)

There aren’t a lot of jobs to be had, and mostly, she finds odd jobs here and there, putting her newfound sewing abilities to use, and saving everything that she earns. Her money hasn’t run out yet, but she keeps trying to work whenever she can, just to make sure that it never does. If she goes too long without earning anything, she finds something to sell, and hopes that none of it is anything that Ladd will miss too much.

The months eventually turn to a year, and then another, and Lua waits for him, never able to find steady work, but able to keep herself from ending up starving or on the streets. Still, it is becoming more and more difficult, and she wonders how anyone is supposed to make it with an economy like this. It is just when things start to become too difficult to manage that she receives contact from the Russos.

It’s been nearly three years since Ladd was locked up, and she isn’t sure why they’ve waited this long to find her. No matter when they had located her, she would have been suspiciously, but she is especially suspicious now, when she is contacted by a man who claims to be talking to her on behalf of Ladd’s uncle, offering her a place to stay, since it must be hard for her on her own.

It’s a trap, and she knows that it is, but she doesn’t think that it’s her life that they’re after, at least not right now. If so, it would be easy to overpower her and silence her for good, so if they’re trying to lure her somewhere, then it must be a hostage situation. And, since she really only has one person in the world that she’s close to, and that one person happens to be the nephew of the man offering her a “place to stay”, she can guess that they’re going to use her as a hostage against Ladd.

She blushes and almost smiles as she realizes what that means; Ladd is probably going to be released soon. If she goes with them, then it will be easy for him to find her, and she will probably get to see him very quickly. On top of that, she will have a roof over her head and food that she doesn’t have to pay for, and the knowledge that she will be protected until Ladd comes to save her.

And she knows that he will come to save her, as soon as he is able.

With a hollow smile that does not quite match the joy in her heart, Lua agrees to fall into their trap.

**Author's Note:**

> If you're interested in my writing updates, please follow my fanfiction twitter @WattStalf  
> I'll follow back so long as you don't post anything hateful!


End file.
